Abstract

This article complements company-level approaches on the explicitization of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), zooming out to the national institutional level. We draw on qualitative data collected during several research stays in Japan, a case with a recent uptake of “explicit” CSR, where, historically, companies focused on “implicit” CSR. We present an empirically grounded framework for CSR explicitization at the national institutional level, involving three dimensions of changes: (a) ideas around CSR, (b) modes of evaluation of CSR, and (c) structures of control over CSR. In Japan, this process has been driven by the government, orchestrating these changes. Our framework contextualizes earlier understandings of CSR explicitization, allowing critical examination in relation to socio-political developments and providing the grounds for future comparative analysis of CSR explicitization. Furthermore, we add to the literature on the government-CSR nexus, introducing the notion of ideational steering as a new mode of government orchestration and shedding light on the role of financial market actors as co-regulators of CSR.